The Moravian virtuoso and
composer of fiendish complexity, Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst,
not unsurprisingly has a small discography to his name. The
Brno powerhouse, still often called by his Czech name in
his native land, nevertheless still exerts a dangerous pull
in practice rooms and studios if not necessarily on the concert
platform. Only similarly pugilist superheroes of the fingerboard,
such as Ruggiero Ricci, have put themselves forward to be
judged in this repertoire – those who do so invariably sharpen
their violinistic quills on the Othello Fantasy or, if they’re
really brave, the appalling difficulties of his Erlkönig.
Hardly anyone has ventured the complete Polyphonic Studies
in disc – though Ricci has. Into this breach steps Ilya Gringolts
and he is a brave man indeed.

The Othello Fantasy presents
the violinist – here accompanied by Ashley Wass – with a
phalanx of demands though it does also gratefully give him
the chance to show off a spun legato as well. Ernst’s construction
is artful and highly sympathetic and it’s for the player
to ensure that the stitches don’t show – or rarely show.
It’s the kind of piece on which a dazzler such as the composer’s
own compatriot Váša Příhoda would have feasted, though
he was never asked to record it. Gringolts exhibits remarkable
technical address throughout. Solo he faces Erlkönig, a
veritable orgy of toccata-like spectral brilliance. Gringolts
rips into the harmonics and characterises with real verve,
as well he must; this is a work often talked about in violin
circles but seldom recorded. It is four minutes of unremitting
labour, incredible technical demands and on top of all this
the player must still ensure that there is a cohesive and
coherent sense of characterisation of voice parts and narrative.
This Gringolts manages to do.

As respite there is the
charming Élégie sur la mort d’un object chéri. Naturally
the discography slightly swells here, not least because the
tortuous demands made elsewhere in Ernst’s music are not
present. Carl Flesch even recorded it back in 1926. It’s
a lyric and expressive with warm double stops toward the
end to heighten the expression. It’s sweetly if perhaps aloofly
sung by Gringolts – vibrato is well varied however and the
playing is commendably clean.

The most extensive of all
demands come via one of Ernst’s last works, his Six Polyphonic
Studies. They were dedicated to the titans of the day – in
order, Laub (Moravian, like Ernst), Sainton, the scandalous
Frenchman, Joachim, Vieuxtemps, Hellmesberger (he of Sinfonia
Concertante cadenza fame and much else), and finally, Bazzini
of the Goblins, to whom Ernst dedicated the last and most
famous, the horrendously difficult and famed Last Rose
of Summer. These solo etudes can bear
some differences in interpretation as both Gringolts and
Ricci demonstrate. The First is more extrovert and bolder
in Ricci’s hands. Gringolts is stronger on the jig rhythm
but slows too much for the second subject – his accents are
indeed razory as well. The Second is too rushed for my own
tastes; I prefer Ricci’s performance which accepts Ernst’s con
grazia instruction and his performance accents more logically
and perceptively. Gringolts sounds rather bothered by this
etude and his tone is ungratefully wiry. The Terzetto Third
is taken daringly slowly with a lot of ancillary sniffing
whilst the Fourth sees some resolute quadruple stopping – Gringolts
is much more immediately recorded than Ricci so his resinous
vitality is almost corrosive in its impact. The Fifth is
an Air de Ballet. Once again I prefer Ricci here, who finds
just the right tempo and sense of inflexion to heighten the
robust waltz elements. Gringolts just misses the stateliness
of the dance and in his haste he misses points of characterisation,
turning it into more of a mere showpiece etude. The final
showstopper is The Last Rose of Summer where Gringolts is
very much slower than the bristling Ricci. I don’t really
like the way Gringolts plays the Rose theme itself – he does
so in an exaggerated, rather weird sort of way as if being
explicitly satiric. Ricci is less post-modern about it all – he
plays with strength and warmth. Of the two performances of
these devilish Etudes I do prefer Ricci, even though his
intonation does stray and there are inevitable technical
blemishes [Dynamic CDS 393/1-10 – a ten CD set called Ruggiero
Ricci - A Life for the Violin].

Which doesn’t really lessen
Gringolts’s achievement here in the balance of things. Calum
Macdonald’s notes are highly readable and fuse biographical
and technical matters in a helpful way. And the sound, though
close, is not too stuffy – though it does sometimes emphasise
a rough, razory tone. This is a white-knuckle ride of a disc,
a witches’ brew of difficulty.

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